10 stars who have faded away from Test cricket

Most cricket teams have been known for rewarding special talents and consistent performers with national call-ups. Scouting of rare talent along with the advent of various cricket leagues across the world has boosted cricketers' dream of playing for their national team.

In Test cricket, the selection criterion is completely different as the selectors keenly focus on player's fitness and concentration levels.

Any successful cricketer in other formats can be deemed as nothing in Test cricket if the energy requirement and fitness levels are sub-par. In Test cricket, some of the players tasted success in achieving it but many of them lost their way leading to dropping them from the national set-up.

Here, we take a look at the Test Cricketers who could not make it big vastly due to inconsistency.

#10 Abhinav Mukund

Abhinav Mukund, the Tamil Nadu opening batsman was once regarded the right player to succeed Virender Sehwag as India's opener in the longest format of the game. Sehwag's injury along with Mukund's rich vein of form got Mukund his first breakthrough to the Indian team in 2011 during the tour of England.

During the England tour in 2011, he struggled to read the line and lengths and hence, could not justify the faith of selectors and moreover, could not make much of an impact. Since then, he has rarely been considered by the selectors and his last appearance for India came during India's tour of Sri Lanka in 2017.

As the Indian Test Team has consistent openers in the form of Murali Vijay and Shikhar Dhawan, Mukund's dream of playing for India might not come true in the near future.

#9 Stephen Cook

Stephen Cook is the son of former cricketer Jimmy Cook.

Stephen Cook, the son of former Test Cricketer Jimmy Cook hasn't been able to replicate his father's success at the international level. A lot was expected from Jimmy Cook at the international level as he was a technically sound batsman and played shots that were abided to the textbook.

He had a dream start to his international career as he scored a century on his Test debut against England. He is also the current record holder for scoring the highest individual score (104) in the third innings of a day-night test match.

However, he suffered a major transition in his form as his career progressed. After notching up 3 centuries in 19 innings, he managed to score meagre 17 runs in the next four innings. This massive decline in form subsequently led the selectors to drop him from the Proteas squad.

As he is on the wrong side of the thirties, Stephen Cook's dream of playing for South Africa again might not come true.

#8 Gary Ballance

Gary Ballance has completely gone off the radar.

Gary Ballance is arguably one of the most talented cricketers who could not make it big at the highest level. The Zimbabwe-born English cricketer is currently on a break from cricket due to personal reasons.

Gary Ballance was axed from the England side after a string of sloppy performances and injury-ridden instances. He last represented England in the Test series against South Africa in July 2017.

Ballance needs to completely revamp his batting style and also has to stabilise his batting in order to be in the reckoning again.

#7 Peter Nevill

Peter Nevill's failure with the glove work paved way for Tim Paine into the side.

Once called the perfect man to succeed Brad Haddin, Peter Nevill had everything going right in his way until he failed badly with his glove work and couldn't score runs lower down the order.

He last played for Australia in November 2016 against South Africa and was subsequently axed from the Australian team and was replaced by Matthew Wade. Despite Peter Nevill's consistent performances in the domestic circuit, veteran keeper Tim Paine has sealed his spot greatly due to his flawless wicketkeeping and batting down the order.

As Tim Paine is the current captain and wicket-keeper of the Australian team, chances look very slim for Peter Nevill to make a comeback to the Australian team.

#6 Pragyan Ojha

Pragyan Ojha hasn't been a part of IPL since 2015.

Pragyan Ojha, the spin-sensation who has gone completely off the radar was a very vital component of the Indian test team till 2013.

In Sachin's farewell match against West Indies, he was adjudged as the man of the match after he finished with figures of 10/89. In spite of finishing the match on a high note, he did not get the nod for selection as he was overlooked by his fielding and all-round abilities.

As Jadeja proved to be a multi-utiliity all-rounder at that time, his abilities overshadowed that of Ojha's and Ojha suffered a massive downfall in his career vastly due to it.

#5 Varun Aaron

Varun Aaron has to ability to bowl above 140 kph.

Varun Aaron, the Indian speedster was one of India's top-ranked bowlers a few years back. Known for his ability to consistently bowl above 140 kph, cricketer pundits once lauded him as India's 'Brett Lee.'

Despite possessing these wonderful abilities, he lost his way in the Indian team after falling prey to regular injuries. His exaggerating style of bowling has had little or no impact due to lack of pace in the recent times.

The pacer has taken a total of 29 wickets from the 18 matches he has played for India at an economy of 5.69.

In spite of having an impressive county stint with Leicestershire, he was nowhere close in making it to the Indian squad for the tour of England as the selectors were wary of his injury-ridden career.

This shows the massive decline of Aaron as a bowler.

#4 Corey Anderson

Corey Anderson has fallen out of favour with the selectors.

A lot of cricket fans remember Corey Anderson only for notching up a wonderful knock of 131 runs off just 47 balls which included 14 sixes and 6 fours in 2014 against West Indies. He also found a place in the record books by scoring the fastest century at that time.

However, four years down the line, it has been a completely different story for Corey Anderson. He last represented the BlackCaps in 2017 and his last Test cap was against Australia in the early part of 2016.

After experimenting with Anderson for over a couple of years in the Test team, New Zealand hasn't availed the services of Anderson lately as he managed to score just 683 runs in 13 matches and has only 16 wickets to his name.

Corey Anderson has been left out of the New Zealand team from all formats of the game mainly due to his inconsistency and fitness.

#3 Steve O'Keefe

Steve O'Keefe

Steve O'Keefe's spell of 12/70 against India was undoubtedly one of the best spells ever bowled in the history of cricket. O'Keefe single-handedly won the match for the Aussies against India in 2017 as he took these magical match spell of 12/70 which handed India a massive 333 run defeat.

After attaining this record, he was considered to be the perfect partner for Nathan Lyon in Tests. Australia after the Shane Warne-era hadn't had the ideal combination of spinners. However, Steve O'Keefe was regarded to fill the voids left by Australian spinners.

Yet, Australian selector, Trevor Horns preferred Ashton Agar for the succeeding tours leaving out Steve O'Keefe as O'Keefe couldn't maintain his consistency throughout the series. He earned a lifeline after he was named as the replacement for the injured Hazlewood against Bangladesh. O'Keefe couldn't make much of an impact and has fallen out of favour with the selectors since then.

#2 Amit Mishra

Amit Mishra

From the retirement of Anil Kumble till the emergence of Yuzvendra Chahal, Amit Mishra was regarded as India's most reliable leg-spinner. He made his Test debut for India against Australia in 2008 when Anil Kumble was injured.

Despite being a short cricketer, Amit Mishra extracted good bounce from the pitch and used it to a great extent for spinning the ball in different directions. Throughout his career, he has never been considered as India's lead spinner and has never cemented his place in the side and has mostly found himself as a backup spinner.

He last played for India in 2016 against England.

As years progressed, his old turn never quite returned and the arrival of Yuzvendra Chahal has sentenced Amit Mishra largely to domestic cricket.

#1 Ian Bell

Ian Bell

Ian Bell can be called the most consistent and stylish No.5 batsmen to have ever played for England. After being a vital cog in the England side since 2004, he was axed from the side after a string of below-par performances in 2015.

The most recent of Ian Bell's appearances for England was in Sharjah against Pakistan in 2015. The reason behind axing him can be attributed to his decline in batting form and ageing factor as he managed to score only 158 runs in his last six innings for England.

Since 2015, he hasn't received a single call-up and has been continuously playing in various leagues across the world. This County season, Bell has been in stellar from as he has scored 665 runs in just 8 matches.

Despite impressive performances at domestic level, Bell might not get to play for England again as England selectors are clearly looking for young talents with a view of long-term goals.